ATLANTA — While most families are fortunate to be home for Christmas, scores of military personnel spend the day waiting out flights at airports.
At Hartsfield-Jackson, there is a special place with a big welcome sign for the military -- it's the USO.
From an elaborate buffet prepared and served year after year by volunteers from Temple Sinai in Sandy Springs, to the gifts and hospitality from the USO, it is a home-away-from-home for scores of travelling military personnel.
“When you come here you are surrounded by other service members and their families and former service members and you have something in common and like a broader family that you have. It’s like coming home to a family dinner when you come to the USO,” said retired U.S. Army Cpt. Marcia Taylor, waiting hours for a flight to Los Angeles.
And U.S. Army veteran, Austin Berner, still serving in the Army Reserves Airborne, arrived early on Christmas Day at the USO in a different kind of uniform.
He is now a full-time Delta flight attendant.
“To come to the USO is fantastic for me especially since I have to work here on Christmas and also being a veteran,” he said
It's a family environment, almost like a reunion to connect with fellow veterans and I just love especially since I am serving our Country both militarily and as a civilian and to be here on Christmas is awesome,” Berner said.
A special treat is the arrival of Santa Claus with his elves and bags sacks of gifts.
Santa is retired Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jackson Bedford, a U.S. Navy veteran and flight crew member who served on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam conflict.
This year he received his own Christmas gift from USO President Mary Lou Austin for the many years he has spent with the military at Hartsfield.
And the smiles across the USO tell it all — the military may be away from home but feeling the holiday spirit.
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